Megawide, BF Corp. bag PPP classroom projects

ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines - Listed firm Megawide Corp. and a company owned by former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando won the bidding to construct 9,301 public classrooms for the Department of Education (DepEd).

The DepEd on Thursday announced the winning bids for 3 packages under the Public Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP), which is a build-lease transfer contract for the design, construction and maintenance of 9,301 classrooms (with toilets and furniture) in Regions I, III and IV-A for 10 years.

Fernando's BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. submitted the lowest bid to construct 2,157 classrooms in Region 1. The government will pay annual lease of P344.59 million or a total of P3.4 billion for 10 years.

Megawide-Citicore Investment Holdings, Inc. won the right to construct 2,885 classrooms in Region III and 4,259 classrooms in Region IV-A. The government will make annual lease payments of P522.98 million for Region III classrooms and P760.49 million for Region IV-A classrooms.

Megawide is known to be the construction company for residential condominium projects of SM Development Corp.

The submitted bid prices are lower than the total approved budget for the contract (ABC) of P16.4 billion. The ABC was derived using the DepEd’s cost for single and two-storey classroom construction.

This translates to a cost of P620,812 per single storey classroom, inclusive of toilets and furniture; and a cost of P1.06 million for a two-storey classroom, inclusive of toilets and furniture.

There were 6 pre-qualified bidders, but only BF-Riverbanks and Citicore-Megawide submitted technical and financial proposals for the project. A committee found their proposals, including mock up structures constructed in Malolos City, Bulacan, are compliant with the PSIP’s minimum performance standards.

"What was once unimaginable – closing classroom shortage – is finally within our reach. Now we can say that it is possible because we worked together and we did this for over 20 million young people, to provide them access to quality education," Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said.

The DepEd expects to issue the Notice of Award to the two bidders within the next four weeks.

Upon acceptance of the classrooms, a ten-year lease period will commence with DepEd making annual payments to the winning bidder. During the lease period, the winning bidder is required to undertake periodic repairs on the classroom structures every 4 and half to 5 years. DepEd will be responsible for the school buildings’ daily maintenance.

"This recent achievement sends a positive message to other investors who are still hesitating to undertake partnerships with government. There are companies willing to bet on government and have great confidence to conduct business with us. Hopefully, this experience will encourage them have a stake in future PPP projects," PPP Center Cosette V. Canilao said.